


No Promises

by watergator



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Brotherly Angst, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 05:11:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6786676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watergator/pseuds/watergator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo figures out what's been bothering Mikey since they arrived home from Space</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Promises

Within days of being home after their long tedious adventure in space, Michelangelo is throwing his weight around the lair, being heavy in his footsteps, butting heads with Raphael and bothering Donnie in his lab unlike the usual banter he would have with his brother. He is talking back to Splinter which earns him getting sent to bed hours earlier than usual. He is also ignoring Leonardo to the point where the atmosphere around the smallest turtle becomes too uncomfortable, almost unbearable. 

The usually happy-go-lucky turtle walks around the lair with a cloud of misery and anger looming over him, only going out when needed on patrol, saying nothing the entire night and retreating to his bed the second they walk through the turnstiles.  
He rarely eats with them anymore; and that’s if he eats. He turns down a pizza much to their shock, which leads one of them leaving a plate outside his bedroom door. Sometimes they would return and the plate would be empty – evidence that he was in fact hungry, however sometimes it would not be. The cold stale pizza left outside, ready for trash.

It isn’t until April and Casey visit, when they’re sprawled out on the couch enjoying a movie, when one of the human teens insist that Mikey has some of the popcorn that they bought over, only for the freckled turtle to smack it straight out of their hands, bowl crashing to the floor, pieces of porcelain and popcorn scatter the floor. Leo feels his blood boil at his brothers’ behaviour as April nervously scoops up shards of remains as Donnie skitters off to the kitchen in search for a broom; or maybe he just doesn’t want to be there when Leo explodes.  
Leo feels himself fly out of his seat and within seconds he’s hoisting Mikey up by the shell screaming at him, and soon enough Mikey is screaming back.  
Raph is apologising to Casey and April who are in the corner, faces red with embarrassment as they stand there like a pair of kicked puppies, tails between their legs.  
Mikey is soon shoving Leo off of him, causing the blue banded turtle to stumble before straightening up and before he has time to even blink, a hard fist comes into contact with his jaw, causing him to fly backwards and land in the sea of popcorn on the floor.  
He hears the shocked gasp from April as he pulls himself up and he sees his kid brother wriggling in Raph’s grasp as he heaves heavily, sweating in a rage.   
And before Leo can stop himself, he too is swinging a fist, smacking Mikey square in the snout, letting him stumble back into Raph, shocked slightly as he puts his hand up to hold his bleeding face, his blue eyes wide, then they narrow into something angry and evil.  
The orange clad brother is shaking in rage, desperate to get free, screaming and screaming, voice now raw and cracking and Leo swore he could hear Casey curse in disbelief under his breath.  
Mikey is now hyperventilating, and Raph’s crushing force soon becomes a soothing hold as he rocks him, desperate to calm him, to help him breath as he begins wheezing, baby blue eyes wide in panic.   
But Donnie rushes in with a needle and is injecting into his neck, causing him to go still, limp in his brothers’ arm, and it goes quiet. Leo exchanges worried looks with his brothers before his eyes rest on his now unconscious brother – having no idea what the shell is the matter with him. 

 

Mikey’s eyelids feel heavy but he convinces himself to open them. His vision is blurred at first but with a few blinks it clears up and judging from the silver celling and the smell of various chemicals; his best guess is that he is in Donnie’s lab.

With a groan his uses an elbow to prop himself up.

“Hey” Comes a small voice from beside him,

Mikey whips his head around, to see Leo sitting by the makeshift cot, eyes bloodshot, a bruise forming on his face.

I did that, Mikey realised to himself, remembering his outburst, when he lost control.

“Hey” Mikey said shyly, feeling slightly embarrassed. 

“Hey” Leo repeats and Mikey doesn’t really understand where the conversation is going – the awkwardness and the tension still thick in the air like a fog.

He watches his older brother rub a hand on his neck and Mikey instantly recognises the gesture – its something Leo always does when he feels uncomfortable, and at that moment Mikey knew it was up to him to set the stone rolling in order for this conversation to move forward.

“Sorry ‘bout your face” His voice comes out hoarse and quiet surprisingly, but it catches the older teens attention.

“Sorry ‘bout yours” He smiles back, nervously, and it feels like a punch to the chest, as he watches his usually stern brother tip toe around him, like walking on eggshells, and it makes the smaller turtle cringe at what an utter ass he’s been to cause this type of rift between the two – no – between his entire family.

“Look Leo” He begins, his eyes diverting from anywhere but those deep blue ones, finding comfort at the blanket that had been draped over him, picking at the frayed edges, he takes in a breath but is interrupted,

“No Mikey, wait” Leo speaks, softly putting a hand on his brothers, causing big wet blue orbs to look into his and Leo feels his heart get crushed in his chest at the unfamiliarity in his brother face,

“Mikey, whatever has been going on with you lately, I just wanna talk about it” He starts gently lifting his other hand to cup his brothers face, a thumb brushing over his cheek, wiping away a stray tear, “But whatever it is, Mikey, you’ll always be my little brother and I’ll always love you, okay” And Leo finishes strong, determined to get his brother to sob all his woes to him, but he lets his brother breath for a moment, gulping back tears.

Mikey nods his head slightly as Leo takes his hand away, giving his baby brother space.

“Leo” His voice is small, so small compared to the angry one he was screaming with every inch of his lungs just an hour ago.

“I was angry… because of you” He finally manages to spit out, looking away again, but Leo can’t help but see the tears that roll off his face, dripping into his lap.

“Me?” He asks, softly as he squeezes his hand gently,

Mikey fidgeted uncomfortably, as he scrunched his face up, tears tracking down his cheeks.  
The freckled teen musters up the strength to look up at his big brother, deep blue eyes swimming with worry – not what Mikey had expected.

“It’s just that you scared me Leo” and Mikey makes sure to emphasis on the word ‘scared’,

“You’re constantly almost getting yourself killed, over and over and over again Leo” Mikey continues and he can feel that bubble of hurt and anger in his tummy again, rising up, showing in his voice and tone.

But Leo just blinks at him, words caught in his throat, so he just watched his baby brother cry, tears leaking from his eyes like a broken faucet – all because of him.

“I know that you’re just trying to protect us Leo, I know that” Mikey hiccups,

“But every time you get hurt or storm off, I have this awful fear that you’re never gonna come back, ever since you saved my butt back on the Technodrome, I’ve been so..” The youngest stopped, thinking,   
“So angry Leo – because I thought you would learn, but you never have” He finally said, quietly, blinking back burning tears.

Leo felt like crying too, all of this was over the whole space incident? He felt a lump form somewhere uncomfortable between his throat and stomach,

“Mikey” He started, slowly,   
“Michelangelo, I love you so much, and I love Raphael and Donatello too – and as your leader, I have to take those kind of risks, putting my life on the line. It’s my job”

And with that Mikey let out another gut wrenching sob, flailing his arms, causing Leo to jump slightly,

“See! You don’t get it Leo!” His words were slurred now, slopping into another as he wept uncontrollably,  
“It’s not your job! You’re not just our leader, you’re my brother” He cried, his small hand holding onto Leo’s arm, “You’re my big brother and I don’t want you to go away forever just because you saved us!”

Leo felt the burn of salty tears behind his eyes as he watched his brother sob over him, mumbling incoherently – and he didn’t know if it was the drugs or the wash of emotion, but seeing his brother like this broke his heart – all because of him. 

“Mikey” He said quietly,   
“I’m sorry” He whispered now, there was a silence apart from the occasion hiccup and sniffle from the baby brother,

“Mikey – I’m so sorry” He said again, tears now leaking from his eyes.

And before his knew it he was pulling his brother into a bone crushing hug, burying his face into the crook of his neck as they both silently wept, trembling, nuzzling as deep as they could into each other as some sort of comfort.

They had no idea how long they had been holding each other, but Mikey soon broke the silence,

“Just promise me you won’t do it again okay” His voice was hoarse and quiet, like a wisp of air.

Leo felt the pounding of his own heart against his chest and he sucked in a breath, forcing himself to smile,  
“Sure Mikey”

Because Leo knew that he couldn’t make a promise like that – not if his brothers lives depend on it.


End file.
